throw their hands up in the air and say i don't know i was just nominated record with doing any investigation into. ukraine could you pay bribes you've been corrupt our own corrupt i did just the presidency al-jazeera investigation is the only goal at this time i really feel liberated as a journalist was. getting to the truth as i would love for this job. i would say that palestinian dogs are not for sale and rule not succumb to react i mean i wage amongst palestinians as donald trump threatens onto us as a cutoff hundreds of millions in aid.

but i'm sure they want to hold this says they were alive for months also coming up after months of protests ethiopia and iran says it will free all political prisoners and close a notorious prison camp. tens of thousands take to the streets in iran this time it's in support of the government. and donald trump only attack this time his former aide is in the firing line why trump says steve bannon has lost its mind. about their very warm welcome to the program palestinian leaders say they won't be blackmailed after u.s. president donald trump threaten to cut aid worth more than three hundred million dollars a year just made the statement on twitter in an attempt to force the palestinians back to the negotiating table relations have been tense between the countries following the u.s. recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital last month israeli leaders of praise trumps pragmatism. the palestine liberation organization says he sabotaged the

peace process. i would say that palestinian votes are not for sale and rule not succumb to the acme route imperatives and requirements for peace and unilaterally president graham has the story good it has a very sever ties down the experts at that to bring a just peace and getting freedom and dignity for the palestinian people by that could rise in occupied jerusalem as the government is a good has not only disqualified himself as a piece of real birth order mediated by digging sounds and by becoming complicit in those those occupation give has told so go to the suburbs those fears still to be story diverted from nations or fees washington is also threatened to cut off funding to the un agency helping palestinian refugees according to the united nations relief and works agency more than one point five million people live in fifty eight recognized palestinian refugee camps in jordan lebanon the gaza strip

and the west bank including occupied east jerusalem the us is one of the main contributors to relief agencies for palestinian refugees that goes towards education health and social programs washington donated just under three hundred seventy million dollars to the united nations relief and works agency in twenty sixteen well spokesman christopher gunness told al-jazeera there's been no suggestion from the u.s. that it will pull support of the aid organization is just getting on with business . we have had no indications whatsoever from the us administration that they intend to cut funds from under they remain the single largest donor last year giving us three hundred sixty five million dollars we have daily conversations with them and as i say we've had no indications whatsoever of funding cut our contribution to the human dignity and the capital human capital of five point two million refugees the middle east is widely recognize it's enormous we run schools for half

a million children and seven hundred schools we are doctors do nine million patient consultations per year we have of nine thousand students in vocational training centers we have tens of thousands of disabled refugees we serve our micro finance department dispenses tens of millions of dollars of loans every year it's huge our contribution it's absolute massive our contribution to human development is really widely recognised as being widespread and indeed profound as humanitarians working on the ground for some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in the middle east we simply have to get on with our job. businesses in the gaza strip have been struggling under an israeli blockade now for a long time many are barely able to keep running with some forced to close due to a lack of supplies and all the difficulties of cotton and by an israeli rights group shows the reality facing one sweet factory reports now from gaza.

a girl called nor buys an ice cream and wins a ticket to visit a sweet factory. where you have heard even maisano lauder shot in the snow was a hollow yet as new as a fictional character in an animation made by an israeli rights group but the factory and its owner mohammed tell bonnie a real and some of the many problems operating under the blockade of gaza by israel in egypt. no discovers them as mohammed shows have around starting with a power cut electricity is off most of the time in gaza. during my visit mohammed explained that since the siege began ten years ago most of his production lines are closed most of the time. he didn't want to fire any of his four hundred staff and families depend on the wages to employees had their hours cut instead. because the

animation also shows the machinery they use has problems to israeli authorities restrict the import of anything they say could be used to make weapons the packaging meant to be done or to my city by dismissing the need to spare parts it's not being allowed in this machine cream filling in biscuits the kids technicians come here and service it and on the outcome of this whole production line being down for yeah some of the equipment needs to be sent to germany for servicing and that's not allowed either. the mohammed doesn't believe the restrictions are just for security reasons it's there is that a lot of this is doing this job but that's. the make the people it's ready that is the bullet because that. israel's military assault on gaza has conflicts with hamas haven't helped either three years ago in fact she was hit by

an israeli rocket. mohammed gifts the sweet factory to know that as she sees its problems becomes a story of shattered dreams the rights group that made it says it aim to inform people but also challenge stereotypes we wanted to be able to tell the story of the movement restrictions on the gaza strip and do it in a creative way so that we could attract new audiences and open people's eyes to the fact that there is a different reality inside of the gaza strip than the one they normally hear business is also being hurt by israeli restrictions on exports mohammed says trade won't pick up unless the siege and at the end of the film no makes everything right with her imagination in reality things so simple and causes industries are still crippled malcolm webb al-jazeera in the gaza strip.

in a surprise move ethiopia's government has announced it will release all political prisoners enclosed in a tourist prison camp by minister haile mariam decile and says as part of efforts to whiten democracy following months of anti-government protests step back or has the story i. hope he's been under pressure domestically and on the international stage there have been antigovernment protests since two thousand and fifteen they continue to pose a serious challenge to the ruling party the decision to release political prisoners would be welcomed by many peons some warn it may not lead to major changes in policy. i didn't. realize that. political junkie. is still stuck to a political dialogue in order to avoid really the. national news to be

really. only level of the society. the protests of the past few years of calls for political and economic changes the roomie and i'm hard regions of lead vocal opposition to the government accusing the ruling party of marginalizing them . activists and journalists have been arrested in what is described as the most serious challenge to succumb and came to power in one nine hundred ninety one hundreds of civilians have been killed during the recent crackdown human rights groups of accuse the security forces of using excessive and lethal force. during wednesday's news conference the government announced it's closing the notorious mark callao a prison and turning it into a museum to facilities been singled out by rights groups in the past for suspected rights violations including torture and critics maintain the government needs to address the underlying grievances of the protesters such as economic social and ethnic rights it's not clear what kind of impact the release of political prisoners

will have on the growing opposition movement stephanie decker. tens of thousands of government supporters have been rallying across it was a show of support comes after six days of demonstrations against the government which they saw into two people were killed iran's revolutionary guard declared on wednesday they are arrest was over matheson with force. on iranian state t.v. pictures of government supporters filling city streets condemning protests and deaths during days of unrest i think it's basically people who are believing that what so what's happening is against that he jeem and they want to support the regime by saying this is a revolutionary dream and we are in favor of it. the t.v. pictures are why these days pro-government rallies are a contrast to coverage of demonstrations against iran's leadership which began last thursday. the government has shut down some social media platforms.

but pictures have been posted showing damaged cars burning buildings and chanting crowds. protests about unemployment and iran's economy which has been struggling after years of sanctions have grown to include demands for greater freedoms hundreds of people have been arrested the u.s. is demanding an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council if the arraigning dictatorships history is any guide we can expect more outrageous abuses in the days to come the u.n. must speak out president donald trump has sided with the anti-government protesters he's tweeted the people of iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt iranian regime all of the money that president obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets the people have little food big inflation and no human rights the u.s.

is watching. iran's foreign minister has tweeted back saying iran's security and stability depends on its own people who unlike the peoples of trump's regional pfaff's are best friends forever have the right to vote and to protest. war pro-government rallies over expected but there have also been calls for more demonstrations against the government it's not clear if both sides will be on the same street at the same time matheson al-jazeera. israel's parliament is given preliminary approval for legislation that would make it easier for a court to impose a death sentence on people convicted of murder in incidents classified as terror attacks the bill still requires three more readings before it becomes useful currently the death penalty can only be imposed of a panel of three military judges passes the sentence of naaman unanimously fifty two members of the knesset voted in favor of the proposal and forty nine were against suicide bombers killed eleven people at

a mosque in northeastern nigeria it happened during dawn prayers in gambler in borno state which is at the center of the conflict with boko haram on tuesday they armed groups lead to released a video claiming responsibility for a series of recent attacks in the area still to come on the program hot line reopened north korea places a phone call to the south for the first time in two years. and more than two hundred. go on display in new york including what's believed to be his very first painting all that more then we come back. hello there we've had some very active weather across europe recently for thanks to this spiraling massive cloud herit but winds to the netherlands of over one hundred

forty kilometers per hour in the whole of this region was very very windy and pretty wet at times too that system is just running its way towards the northeast and slowly becoming less intense as it does so in behind it there's the next system pushing in but this one isn't quite so intense so heavy downpours for some of us in france and a fair amount of snow over the out so this one gradually edges its way eastwards as we head through friday we see some rain tailing back through parts of spain portugal but to the north of that there is still rather mild look about nine in london and around twelve in paris the southeast corner of europe it's very quiet to the moment we're looking at fine sunny weather and athens will get to around fourteen degrees across the other side of the mediterranean it's fairly unsettled currently you can see one system there making its way into turkey just stretching down towards the northern parts of egypt and libya but the whole thing's working its way eastward so for the north coast of egypt should be a bit brighter there force on friday the systems making its way through lebanon in

the east there meanwhile elsewhere generally fine and settle for us across the northern parts of africa with nineteen is the maximum temperature there him rabbet . jeffrey. rashi's musical pioneer. uses to be silent in spite of the endless cycles of violence. through his school for young girls. to. see patients. using. witness documentary this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back a quick reminder of our top stories here on al-jazeera palestinian leaders are condemning u.s. president donald trump's threat to cut aid to the palestinian authority the president made the statement on twitter where he also said jerusalem is off the negotiating table if you will be as leaders announced plans to drop charges against political prisoners and close in the tourist prison camp its possible plan to whiten democracy in the country following months of anti-government protests to two regions. tens of thousands of government supporters are rallying across iran the show of support comes after six days of demonstrations against the government in which at least twenty two people were killed. us president donald trump has hit out of this war my chief strategist steve bannon in an excerpt from his upcoming book as reported by the guardian badman calls trump's actions during the twenty sixteen campaign treasonous and unpatriotic trump position

a statement saying quote steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency when he was fired you know and only lost his job in lost his mind he went on to say steve has the thing to do with our historic victory. steve doesn't represent my bases only in it for himself he also accused bannon of playing a double game saying steve pretends to be at war with the media which he calls the opposition party and he spent his time at the white house the king false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was steve was rarely in a one on one meeting with me well let's speak to diane easterbrook who's live in washington d.c. for us hi there diane so why is the white house responding to this then so forcefully. well julie this is a book that has some fairly explosive allegations and the one that you alluded to was the steve bannon comment about possible treason one and what he was referring

to was the meeting that donald trump jr took with this russian attorney at trump tower right before the president won the nomination in which this attorney said she had potentially don't have potential dirt on hillary clinton and hillary clinton's linked to russia. in this in this book allegedly ban and says that that should have been reported that donald trump media jr should have immediately gone to the f.b.i. with that information and that because that he actually accepted this meeting with this woman to potentially get this dirt was treasonous so this all comes of course in the middle of this f.b.i. or the special counsel investigation that robert mueller is doing into russian meddling into the two thousand and sixteen presidential campaign and possible collusion with the trump campaign and so that is why you're seeing this forceful pushback by the president now he says that you know steve bannon wasn't close to

him but that's really untrue steve banning came in in the late summer of two thousand and sixteen to run the campaign he was the c.e.o. of the campaign he then became chief strategist for the transition and then came into the white house as his chief political strategist so to say that he wasn't close to the president the band wasn't close to the president is really sort of questionable until i and one else is in this. well this is a book allegedly or what we're hearing contains about two hundred interviews with people inside of the white house it is written by an investigative journalist one of the things that he says is that bannon was encouraging the president to name drop as israel's capital shortly after the president took office he also says in this book that molony or trump did not want to become first lady she was very unhappy that the president was elected but again the white house is pushing back

against those allegations that in fact sarah huckabee sanders the president's press secretary today called those trashy tabloid fictions so again the white house very forcefully pushing back against this book that will be on bookshelves in about a week so i am i submit there joining me live from washington d.c. diane thank you north korea's reopen communication south korea for the first time in almost two years between the two governments a shared jewel for tuesday on monday north korea's leader kim jong un made aware conciliate to offer of talks during his new year's address partit smith reports this is the only official means of communication between north korea and south korea but for almost two years the north koreans have refused to answer the phone until wednesday when they placed a call to the south. certainly. kim jong un has given an order to reopen the

hotline between the north and the south to contact south korea regarding a right time for talks and sending a delegation to the kyung chuang winter olympics. the decision was welcomed in seoul a day after the government proposed high level talks amid a tense standoff over north korea's missile and nuclear programs but the u.s. government wasn't impressed. we won't take any of the talk seriously if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons in north korea we consider this to be a very reckless regime we don't think we need a band-aid we don't think we need to smile and take a picture we think that we need to have them stop nuclear weapons and they need to stop it now. in his new year's speech kim jong un warned the u.s. he had a nuclear button on his desk. and book but problem to donald trump to continue his apparent mockery of a president he's nicknamed little rocket man in a tweet the u.s. president wrote i too have a nuclear button but it's

a much bigger and more powerful woman his of my book works north korea has been punished with unprecedented sanctions by the un over its weapons programs the u.s. has warned of more measures if young young conducts another missile test. but it's meant al-jazeera. norway is banning weapons exports the united arab emirates over its pontus a patient in the war and game in the u.a.e. is a key member of the society led coalition fighting hutu rebels in the country coalition's imposed a blockade on yemen leading to widespread food shortages and a major health crisis the u.n. estimates more than five thousand civilians have been killed since the conflict began and twenty the still. in yemen people say they are continuing to suffer under the blockade imposed on the country by that saudi led coalition in recent weeks the saudis have allowed humanitarian aid to flow into the country thought as a tasha going to reports in the port city of her data people say little has changed

. far from the front lines and the ports it's a life of increasing challenges for so many yemenis bound by a feeling that they've been forgotten. our life is miserable with the war raging for years i lost my job too we cannot afford a daily meal if we have a meal we are not sure if we are going to have the next one a. house in salem says his family circumstances are unraveling in a way he never thought possible a lost job then a lost home and now uncertainty over how much worse things could get wound up and. we are left with nothing but only god as our rock the nearby port is no longer a source of employment or humanitarian aid since november the saudi led coalition has either blocked or limited access to ports of entry in yemen citing security

concerns that a coalition claims to have reopened a court on december twentieth we were in the first week of january and the coalition is still misleading the public fabricating excuses to continue to see jean and starving the yemeni people. the interruption in the flow of aid is adding to what is already described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis unless the mother thought the un reiterated that even if the data port is operating at maximum capacity it would not be enough to meet the needs of the yemeni so you can imagine how dire the situation. salem and his family say they used to be able to rely on some assistance from relief agencies but no more like so many yemenis they are left to cope on their own natasha going to hold his era. of these fourteen people killed in air strikes in syria this footage from our sister channel al-jazeera arabic shows the aftermath of an airstrike was destroyed

a hospital on the outskirts of it left three people were killed and eleven people died in air strikes. in the northwest syrian opposition says russian and government forces carried out those strikes. britain's hospitals are being warned to take drastic measures to cope with surging demands as when to a growing song the national health service experiences much higher activity in the colder months and the institution is struggling to call its store up questions here about government funding and whether one of the country's most valued institutions providing free health care for seventy years can continue as before the courts. hundreds of british hospitals are in the grip of a winter crisis patient numbers regularly surge during the colder months but this year sickness levels have sought to ease the pressure and health officials have banned doctors in england from carrying out all non-emergency surgery such as

cataract to hip replacement operations until the end of january people have been told to only go to hospital in a real emergency some patients are waiting twelve hours to see a doctor others are being treated and kodos medical staff but also feeling the strain on twitter this doctor apologize for third world conditions at the hospital he worked in shouldn't be and t. is every day at work because of a lack of resources and lack of capacity wrote this nurse an estimated fifty five thousand procedures are expected to be postponed in the coming weeks and h.s. chiefs have defended the move this is a planned response to our winter and that we knew it was going to be difficult and we are managing that in the way that we expected i would take the early action we're not waiting to have to respond to. the n.h.s. is one of the u.k.'s most revered institutions offering free health care to all u.k. residents but it's under mounting strain so much so that this time last year the

red cross the international aid group said that if things didn't improve that it raised a humanitarian crisis. and the n.h.s. is still struggling to cope. many doctors blame successive governments for starving the service of funding all in a gradual attempt they say to privatized the public health service we've seen the n.h.s. over this decade undergoing the biggest funding squeeze since it began. over those seventy years and what we've seen in this decade is approximately forty billion pounds of cuts by the time we get twenty twenty not simply on pressed into the n.h.s. it's not surprising we're seeing the kind of scenes. this winter around last winter the government insists the delays are part of a well planned system that comes through operations and time critical procedures will go ahead as planned but all many people can see is a cherished service sinking deeper into crisis the darker al-jazeera london.

more than two hundred works by michelangelo are on display at the metropolitan museum in new york yeah exhibition includes dozens of sketches and drawings which rarely go on public display table is owned or went to take a look. art lovers examining the work of a legend a new michael angelo exhibit at the metropolitan museum of art in new york brings together one of the largest collections of the lesser known works of the man considered one of the most influential figures of western art there is this piece called the torment of saint anthony believed to be michael angelo's first painting it was completed in fourteen eighty seven when he was only twelve or thirteen years old but it's dear regional pencil and paper works that are the real draw when he draws us force yes espresso he said marble sculptor is so he uses the chalk especially with great force on the paper almost carving on the paper as if it

were marble although he considered himself primarily a sculptor michelangelo was also called the divine draftsman and designer at this exhibit there are one hundred thirty three of his drawings many of which almost never go on public display because they are so rare and fragile four hundred fifty years after his death his drawings are often an overlooked part of the artist's work it took the metropolitan museum of art eight years to collect all of the michelangelo pieces that are on display here they mostly come from over fifty different art institutions and private collections such as those from queen elizabeth and even the vatican an exhibition of this magnitude in importance is a global activity and the met has the resources the commitment the scholarship to do it and it's part of our mission it's part of our responsibility to serve the world in that way and a chance for visitors to look closely at the drawings in the sketch books of one of the world's greatest artists to get

a better sense where his ideas originated gabriels on to al-jazeera new york. cooped up inside a cramped plane in southern spain one passenger decided to wing it these pictures were taken by a man on board ryan as london's a malaga flight passengers had been waiting for half an hour after landing with no sign of being let off the played fairly fed up with waiting inside one passenger decided to open the emergency exit enjoy the evening air on the waiting instead he was though promptly arrested. you can buy that much more about the stories we're following head to our web site of al jazeera dot com. the mind of our top stories here on al-jazeera palestinian leaders say they will be blackmailed after u.s. president don chum threatened to cut aid worth more than three hundred million dollars a year made the statement on twitter in an attempt to force the palestinians back

to the negotiating table relations have been tense between the countries following trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital last month i would say that palestinian votes are not for sale and rule not to come to react mean there are imperatives and requirements would be used and you reluctantly president graham has the story done because they were severed gouged out aspects of that to bring a just peace and getting through them and dignity for the palestinian people. if you'll be as leader has announced plans to drop charges against political prisoners and close in notorious prison camp prime minister haile mariam decile and says it's part of f. as to why democratic space for all it comes after months of anti-government protests in a womanly on a mara charges will be dropped for all political prisoners under prosecution with pardons issued to those already serving sentences. u.s. president donald trump has hit out at his former chief strategist steve plamann in

an excerpt from his upcoming book banning calls charms actions during the twenty six campaign quote treasonous and unpatriotic trump has responded by saying banning has caught lost his mind it is only in it for himself iran's revolutionary guards have announced the end of armrests in the islamic republic tens of thousands of government supporters are rallying to condemn the recent on the rest of these twenty two people have died in the anti-government protests which began in march last thursday and spread across the country. north korea's leader has reopened a key cross border communication channel with south korea for the first time in nearly two years it comes after kim jong un suggested in his new year's address that he would like to ease hostilities with so in that sadr has. norway's banning weapons exports to the united arab emirates over its participation in the war in yemen the u.a.e. is a key member of the saudi led coalition fighting hooty rebels in the country. you are

up to date with the stories are current the following stay with us on al-jazeera the street is coming up next we'll see a bit later. ok i'm like of the lab and these are our guests on the story in the what do you see i see in a ray of different shades of black bt on today's show why people with dull skin and facing discrimination from within and outside their own communities this is colorism where does it begin and what impact does it have.